For Dean Brooks and his Weeki Wachee High teammates, the 2014 football season was difficult to endure.
The 6-foot-3, 275-pound starting nose guard about to enter his senior year pulls no punches. He pointed to a lack of leadership and a divide between the veteran and younger players as the primary reason for the Hornets’ 1-9 showing.
This spring, Brooks aims to fix that issue.
“The team is working good,” Brooks said. “We just need to find teamwork and team leadership. We have the talent and the kids, we just have leadership problems.
“I’m trying to be one of the main leaders.”
Brooks can back up his talk with production. He recorded 82 tackles as a junior, an impressive number for an interior defensive lineman. He had 15 tackles for a loss.
“I was able to look through the gaps and see who had the ball and tackle the running back,” Brooks said. “I’m trying to get faster and trying to get more tackles. I’m trying to make it to 100 next year.”
Last season was his first at Weeki Wachee after two at Nature Coast. He came up to varsity as a sophomore with the Sharks, eventually working his way into the starting lineup at nose guard.
With the coaching change at Nature Coast following the 2013 campaign, Brooks opted to transfer. The transition was made smoother by the fact many of his middle school friends were at Weeki Wachee, and a couple of Nature Coast assistants had joined the Hornets’ coaching staff.
The schedule at Weeki Wachee has also allowed him to take classes at Pasco-Hernando State College. He should graduate next year having already earned his associate’s degree.
Brooks has made an impact on the wrestling mats, as well. He placed sixth at 285 pounds this winter, finishing 47-16 overall.
He attributes the conditioning he has gained from wrestling as the reason he should be able to handle added duties at offensive tackle this fall.
The Hornets’ football mentor Mark Lee has certainly come away impressed with Brooks.
“He does everything you ask him to do and you only have to tell him once,” Lee said. “His motor runs non-stop. He goes 100 percent all the time. He flips the switch once he crosses onto the football field.
“If we were not 1-9 he would have got more publicity. Anyone we played, they struggled with him. He’s very scrappy and he’ll go toe-to-toe with anybody.”
While he would like to participate in either football or wrestling in college, he wants to go somewhere that has a strong meteorology program. His goal is to work at the Weather Channel.
Meanwhile, he believes the Hornets must turn around the negative attitude on campus toward the football program, starting with Friday’s spring classic at Wesley Chapel, kicking off at 7 p.m.
“We can prove the whole school wrong,” Brooks said, “beat Wesley Chapel and get that momentum up.”
